Arsenal: Olivier Giroud Preparing The Way For Something Bigger

Arsenal have been utilizing Olivier Giroud in their heavily counter-attacking 3-4-3 formation, but is he nothing more than a placeholder?

Arsenal used their same inspiring 3-4-3 formation against Manchester City and it allowed the Gunners to step up, use their grit and fight and show that they can hang with the big clubs in pressure situations. Numerous players utilized the formation to showcase their talents, lead, of course, by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

Olivier Giroud, however, was sent into a losing battle. He was tasked with fielding every long ball fired his way in desperation. With Vincent Kompany back there, as well as the basic hindrances of relying on such a principle, this was never going to work. Although he did win seven aerial duels, none of them directly led to an immediate chance.

Which makes me wonder how big of a part Giroud is going to have to play in this new formation going forward. That is, assuming that this formation is the way forward, which is definitely looking likely.

It is very possible that Giroud is preparing the way for something bigger. He plays a useful role in the 3-4-3 but he isn’t the lynch pin I initially thought he would be. Those hefted air balls from deep in desperation and from Petr Cech don’t dictate how well this team counters. If anything, they are just another try at doing thing differently.

Slipping in a speedy center forward changes the game. It removes that floating ball option, but what were you really getting out of it? And thanks to the three back set, it’s not like we are begging for targets on set pieces. Rob Holding, Laurent Koscielny and Gabriel Paulista are all adept in the air and Granit Xhaka is pretty good himself.

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Very few of Arsenal’s successful counter attacks started with a long ball to Giroud. They started with a dispossession somewhere on the pitch and a quick break the other way. Due to the limitations of Giroud’s speed, those fast breaks were led by Alexis, Mesut Ozil, Aaron Ramsey and the wing backs.

Meaning that there is an excellent opportunity to slip in an Alexandre Lacazette or a Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, and add another sharp edge to a counter attack that might just need that one more foot to push it over the top.

Giroud is always going to have a place in this team, but his massive success as a wrecking ball coming on late in games seemed like a much better facet to use him in, particularly with this formation. Those early crosses are definitely a piece of then puzzle, but as Nacho Monreal showed us, early crosses don’t always require the tallest head to be successful. Or even a head at all.

Next: 3 Reasons Holding Will Be One Of Wenger's Best Ever

There are so many reasons to get pumped about this formation change and the way forward, not least of all because of scenarios like this, with options and choices and ways to explore it further.